Football season kicks off Thursday evening amid Nike’s controversial advertising campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback, who kneeled during the National Anthem to protest racial inequality in America. Other issues facing the NFL include: underperforming teams in key media markets like New York, San Francisco, and Chicago; increasing attention around head injuries and neurological problems resulting from tackle football; waning TV viewership; and negative reporting on NFL players, some of which has involved domestic abuse and drug use.

Regular season viewership for the National Football League fell by 10 percent last year, a steeper drop after years of consistent decline.